Disinfo Tactics Bingo

• Allegations of secrecy and/or neglect: Claiming that certain states are not adequately transparent about their CBRN activities and/or not responsive to questions about those activities.
• Appeal to emotions: Evoking strong unpleasant feelings such as fear, anger, or sympathy to influence beliefs or actions.
• Framing opponents as exploitative colonizers: Strategically framing an actor — usually a country in ‘The West’ — as an exploitive colonizer or hegemonic power pursuing their geopolitical interests at others’ expense.
• Derogatory name calling: Using insulting or demeaning labels to discredit opponents and divert attention from facts.
• Discrediting opponents: Harming the credibility and reputation of an opponent in the eyes of the international community and/or the disinformation spreader’s domestic population.
• Disregard for rules and norms: Falsely alleging that a country or entity is disregarding or breaking rules, laws, or norms.
• Distortion of evidence: Referencing “evidence” that purportedly confirms false claims about CBRN threats, which can include materials that are deliberately misinterpreted and taken out of context or partially or fully fabricated.
  • Related resource: Disinformation Tactic Spotlight: Use of Misleading “Evidence”
• Distraction and misdirection: Pointing to (real or falsely alleged) CBRN activity and threats, to cause confusion, justify potential aggression, or direct attention away from potentially embarrassing events or a country’s own CBRN activities.
  • Related resource: Tactic Spotlight – Distraction and Misdirection
• Fake mirroring: Accusing another state of what an actor has been accused of, and have likely done/are doing.
• False allegations of WMD use: Falsely claiming that an actor used CBRN WMD, often by highlighting historical use.
• Flooding the zone with confusing information: Overwhelming people with a large amount of information, causing confusion and making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehoods.
• Framing an aggressor as a saviour: Commending an oppressive power’s actions and framing them as necessary to ensure global peace and security, often to paint them as a responsible international actor and justify their aggression.
• Manipulating risk/threat perception: Purposefully using language that intensifies risk perception and evokes fear, dread, and uncertainty to manipulate how people perceive a threat.
• Manipulative tailoring to specific audiences: Strategically manipulating how false narratives are framed so that they are especially persuasive with and tailored to specific audiences.
• Misrepresenting peaceful activities as illicit: Questioning or attacking the legitimacy of clearly peaceful CBRN uses.
• Misuse of scientific or technical information: Presenting inaccurate, irrelevant, or misconstrued scientific or technical information to substantiate false claims.
• Portraying states and organizations as puppets: Implying that a foreign power exercises control over a country or entity.
  • Related resource: Tactic Spotlight – Portraying states and organizations as puppets
• Referencing past atrocities: Linking CBRN threats with historical disasters/atrocities to evoke strong emotional response.
• Undermining international structures: Portraying international structures, organizations, and conventions as being ineffective, weak, or developed exclusively by and for the ‘West’.
• Unfounded accusations of nefarious activity: Falsely portraying CBRN activities as suspicious or nefarious.
• Use of misleading photos: Legitimizing false claims using fake/altered photos or real ones taken out of context.
• Using “authoritative” sources: Referencing seemingly authoritative sources to provide a false appearance of legitimacy or expert backing to claims. These sources may be fake, taken out of context, or have expertise in a separate area.
• Victim framing: An actor strategically portraying themself as the victim of others’ actions, often to justify their own actions.
• Weaponizing legal or procedural rules: Deliberately and disruptively manipulating formal rules during a multilateral proceeding, such as excessive use of rights of reply, obstruction, interruption, or time-wasting.

These are some of many recurring tactics and narratives related to CBRN disinformation circulating in convenings, documents, and disarmament fora. To learn more about some of these tactics, please read the Countering WMD Disinformation Initiative’s tactic spotlights. The Initiative identified these tactics through a systematic analysis of over 300 news media items from the EUvsDisinfo Database focused on CBRN disinformation.